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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28927617">self-fulfilling prophecies</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/trite/pseuds/trite'>trite</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars Sequel Trilogy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe – Canon Divergence, Crack Treated Seriously, M/M, Post-Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Time Travel</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 09:27:28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>6,542</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28927617</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/trite/pseuds/trite</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p></p><blockquote>
  <p>“The easiest way for you to understand it, it's this: I am from the future. I am here to tell you what you need to do in order to win the war and save the galaxy,” the Hux allegedly from the future said.</p>
  <p>This was bound to be interesting no matter what, so Poe decided to humor him. “Okay, I’ll play along. Tell me.”</p>
  <p>“You need to make him fall in love with you.” </p>
</blockquote>Poe and Hux kill, make, and save time together.
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Poe Dameron/Armitage Hux</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>63</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Hoelidays Gift Exchange 2021</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>self-fulfilling prophecies</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gyoro_and_Ururun/gifts">Gyoro_and_Ururun</a>.</li>



    </ul></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>Poe was waiting on the most secluded corner booth of the cantina to double check the intel they had gotten a few days before.</p><p>It had been a weird message with a place and time and a vague mention of First Order activity. That part had not been weird. The encryption had been. It had taken them days to decode it and after a few minutes, the message had self-deleted. It was taking paranoid to an extreme degree and it elicited a similar feeling in Poe. It had also specifically mentioned Poe.</p><p>He had been here nursing the same drink for almost an hour, though. He had memorized the uninspired decor, the stained surfaces, the drunken demeanor of the patrons, the washed-out beige walls. He had calculated how many steps it took to get from the entrance to the booth and how many dark corners were along the way.</p><p>Jess and Suralinda were outside but had reported nothing out of the ordinary when they had checked in ten minutes ago. Just when Poe was about to call the whole thing a wash, someone slid across the seat from him.</p><p>“Hello, Dameron,” said General Hux.</p><p>Poe searched for his comlink, but Hux stopped him, reaching out a hand. “Your friends are fine, but I need you to listen to me. This is important and I don’t have a lot of time to explain.”</p><p>Poe looked at him. He looked different; older and weary but less harried. Not exactly like someone working directly under Kylo Ren. He was wearing nondescript clothes and not a First Order uniform, but that wasn’t surprising in a non-First Order affiliated planet. “Okay, yeah, talk. I’m listening.”</p><p>“I am technically not the person you’re supposed to be meeting. Not the correct version anyway,” Hux said slowly, staring at him intently.</p><p>“Version?”</p><p>"The easiest way for you to understand it, it's this: I am from the future. I am here to tell you what you need to do in order to win the war and save the galaxy," the Hux allegedly from the future said.</p><p>This was bound to be interesting no matter what, so Poe decided to humor him. “Okay, I’ll play along. Tell me.”</p><p>“You need to make him fall in love with you.”</p><p>There was a certain amount of lunacy Poe was willing to indulge but they were literally having a contextless conversation here. Poe looked around the place before turning back to this uniquely deranged version of Hux. “Who?”</p><p>“The other me. He’s the one you’re meeting. He’s not here on business, though that was his excuse to come here. He’s alone and feeling bad for himself. Validate him a little. He’ll fall for that.” Hux leaned back against the worn-out surface of the seat looking satisfied, like someone who had imparted great wisdom and not just shared some random nonsense.</p><p>“I’m gonna need a second to process that.”</p><p>“We don’t have a second. Process faster than that. I know you can do it.”</p><p>Poe took a deep breath. Sure, he could work with this. “Okay, I’m all caught up. You know that’ll work?”</p><p>“Yes.”</p><p>“Right. And how do you know it will work?”</p><p>“Trust me. I know.”</p><p>Poe turned toward the entrance when someone walked in but it was just a young couple. <em>Newlyweds</em>, they told the droid behind the bar. Apparently, they were lost. He turned back toward Hux, who looked completely at ease. "I don't think we're at the trusting stage yet, buddy."</p><p>“I know it because I lived it.” He stared at Poe for a moment, looking at him oddly, before looking away.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Ten minutes and a lot of frustrating half-answers later, the Hux claiming to be from the future left with a final reminder that the galaxy's fate depended on this. He said it with the kind of desperate conviction that made Poe want to believe him.</p><p>He would find out if he was lying soon enough.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>"You seem familiar," said Poe to the present-day General Hux. He looked undeniably different from the Hux he had spoken less than ten minutes ago. For one he had a split lip and his left arm was in a plasti-cast but there was this edgy, frazzled energy to him. He was exactly what Poe had expected.</p><p>“How did you know where to find me?” He looked around frantically and moved his right hand under the table, probably reaching for a blaster.</p><p>“I didn’t. You’re not going to believe me but this is a genuine coincidence.”</p><p>“I don’t believe in happenstance.”</p><p>“Can I sit down?” Poe asked, keeping his movements slow and careful. Hux hadn’t blasted him yet so he must be doing something right.</p><p>“I would rather you didn’t. Get to the point and spare me the creative torture methods.”</p><p>“You’re not the most sensitive guy, are you?” Poe said, sitting down across from him, an identical set up to the one he had shared with Hux’s future self. “I’m here to unwind a little. That’s it. I’m alone and just wanted to talk.”</p><p>“Alright. Let’s talk. Where’s your base?”</p><p>Poe laughed. He placed his hands on the sticky table between them and trailed his fingers against it, saw Hux follow the movement. “I was thinking friendly talk. The kind you can’t get in the Order.”</p><p>“Don’t presume to know my life.”</p><p>“I know you have to come up with an elaborate story about meeting an arms dealer or a bounty hunter or something, just to get away from home for a bit.”</p><p>“Who told you that?” Hux asked, leaning back on the booth, the motion was indistinguishable from the one Poe had seen in the other Hux but lacked the ease in his movements. It came across as cornered and defensive, anxious.</p><p>That was the opposite reaction Poe wanted. He wasn’t good at deliberately seducing people, didn’t make a habit of it. It just happened, sometimes without him realizing it or expecting it. He firmly believed that if something was going to happen between two people, it would happen naturally. No need to force it. It had always worked out just fine for him.</p><p>“No one. I’m good at reading people.” Emboldened by Hux’s silence, he added, “what happened to your arm?”</p><p>“Workplace accident,” Hux said stiffly.</p><p>“Yeah, Finn told me about those. I didn’t know high ranking officers were prone to them. You’re what? Second in command?” <em>More tact</em>, Poe thought, chiding himself.</p><p>“Is this the kind of intel you’re seeking? Next you’ll try to get me to divulge such secrets as the name of our Supreme Leader.”</p><p>“I told you I’m just here to talk. Pick a different topic.”</p><p>“I would rather pick a different place,” Hux said, standing up and leaving.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>“How much did you have to drink in there?” said Jess when he met with them at the rendezvous point. She squinted at him and waved a hand in front of his face, as if the problem was his eyesight.</p><p>Poe batted away her hands and moved toward his ship. He was not looking forward to explaining this back at base.</p><p>When he was a few steps away, he heard Suralinda say, “wait, this is actually a pretty great story.”</p><p>Jess groaned. “It’s completely nonsensical, so I guess it’s right up your alley.”</p><p>“Who doesn’t like a love story?” she asked.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>It took twenty seconds (Poe counted in his head) for anyone in the command center to react.</p><p>Finn chuckled weakly. “Oh, that’s— funny?” he said slowly.</p><p>“Oh, yeah, I get it now. Yeah, it’s funny,” said Snap, nodding along.</p><p>Poe groaned and rubbed his temples. He should have figured <em>I need to make General Hux fall in love with me in order to save the galaxy</em> wasn’t the best way to start this conversation.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Poe felt a little underdressed in the bar of the fancy hotel the next set of coordinates had sent him to. He drummed his fingers on the wood counter and looked toward the entrance again. He was hoping Future Hux made an appearance but it was looking unlikely.</p><p>He looked around the lounge at the intimate alcove-like booths, mostly empty. The place was polished and classy, dripping wealth from each of its smooth surfaces. When he turned around, Hux was there, having appeared out of nowhere.</p><p>Poe stared at him for a moment, before Hux rolled his eyes and said, “yes, it’s me from the future.”</p><p>“Okay, good. I have a list of questions for you.” After everyone’s initial disbelief had passed, they had focused on everything they didn’t understand about it and turned to Poe for answers. However, Poe was just as in the dark as them.</p><p>Hux waved his hand. “No, we don’t have time for that. What is taking so long?”</p><p>“What? I talked to him for all of ten minutes. You’re clearly overestimating my powers of seduction.”</p><p>“Have I not emphasized how important this is?”</p><p>“He’s not receptive to my advances.” Honestly, Poe was surprised by how well it had gone. They had talked and there had been no murder threats.</p><p>Hux frowned and then tilted his head as if suspecting Poe of lying. "What did you tell him?"</p><p>“That I wanted to talk.”</p><p>Hux groaned. “No, that approach will take too long. Tell him what he wants to hear. It doesn’t have to be the truth.”</p><p>“I don’t know what he wants to hear. That he will one day bring order to the galaxy and rule unopposed?”</p><p>“He wants—” Hux paused and took a deep breath. “He wants to feel appreciated. Wanted. Take him to a stall and fuck him senseless. That will do it. He’s pathetic.”</p><p>“Hey, don’t talk about him like that.” Poe had probably said worse things about Hux, but this was decidedly personal and coming from someone who knew him. It felt particularly mean-spirited.</p><p>“He’s me,” Hux said slowly.</p><p>“Exactly.”</p><p>“He’s half the person he could be. By his own design.” His words were cold and controlled, completely lacking emotion. The intensity of them made Poe look away.</p><p>“I am not comfortable doing that, anyway.”</p><p>“Close your eyes and think of the galaxy.”</p><p>“That’s not the problem,” Poe said.</p><p>“I know,” Hux said softly, his words sounding genuine.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>This time when Hux saw him, he carried on as usual, not sparing him a second glance. "I don't believe the Resistance has any business in a place like this. Or that it pays enough for you to afford any of the luxuries on display."</p><p>“Maybe I’m hoping to drink on the First Order’s tab,” Poe said, sitting down next to him. <em>Maintain eye contact, give him your full attention, smile</em>, he told himself.</p><p>“Get in line. I need to flatter some investors first.” Hux looked tired and frazzled but not bruised and battered, which was an improvement.</p><p>“You can afford to buy me <em>one</em> drink, can’t you? Anyway, practice your pitch on me. I’ll give you some helpful feedback.”</p><p>Hux signaled the droid behind the bar and said, “I dread to think what a business pitch from your kind would look like.”</p><p>“Maybe I’m hoping to learn from you then,” Poe said and bit his lip.</p><p>Hux frowned. “This isn’t the Armitage Hux school for failing Rebels.”</p><p>Poe laughed. “Okay, Armitage Hux, but it if were, what kind of things would I learn there?”</p><p>“Don’t call me that,” Hux said as the drinks arrived. He didn’t look murderous, though.</p><p>Poe glanced toward the narrow hallway to his left leading to the refreshers and brushed his fingers against Hux’s as he grabbed his drink.</p><p>Hux violently flinched away, spilling some of it on his fingers in the process.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Maybe the Hux from the future was taking a more active role and trying to set them up by luring them into romantic locations, Poe thought as he landed on the beach. The ocean was a pure, clear shade of blue, the golden sand glistened against the warm sunlight of the early morning and there were trees further back with big heart-shaped, pink leaves. All they needed was a blanket and a basket of fruits and they could have a romantic picnic. Or a romantic walk down the shore as he was currently doing with Future Hux.</p><p>As usual, he was being cagey. He told Poe that the Order was interested in the planet, but said little else. "Nothing comes out of it. Maintain your focus on what matters."</p><p>Trying a different approach, Poe asked, “how do you exist? I know you said you’re from the future, but is your future changed by my actions?”</p><p>“What actions?” Hux asked obnoxiously.</p><p>“You know what I mean.” Poe was tempted to tell him <em>I like your other self better</em> which was actually the truth. Future Hux was the worst team player ever; demanding and withholding, expecting everyone to excel at a game he wouldn’t share the rules to.</p><p>“Not exactly. Our futures are different. In my timeline, I died. Then I woke up in the past and had the knowledge to make the right decisions. I fixed it and the galaxy was saved, etcetera.” He said the last part dismissively. “The events of <em>your</em> timeline are threatening to undo that.”</p><p>“Why not go directly to the other you? Tell him what to do.”</p><p>“He wouldn’t believe me.”</p><p>“You’re the same person.”</p><p>“Which is how I know. He doesn’t trust himself. He doesn’t trust the secrets in his own head,” Hux clarified. “Anything I said would make him doubt me more.”</p><p>Poe wished he didn’t know anything about Hux — his Hux, that was — that Hux hadn’t freely shared. It was a strange notion considering all the intel they had collected on the guy. Poe still went through it; it didn’t feel invasive like this did.</p><p>“So you’re not like a Force ghost,” Poe said, trying to change the course of the conversation.</p><p>“No, I am not like a Force ghost. I am corporeal.” When he reached out to touch him, Poe flinched back. It was just very sudden. Hux quickly took his hand away and stared in the opposite direction.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The museum Poe arrived at was not only more public than the other places they had met, but also had two troopers stationed near the entrance. The whole place was crawling with stormtroopers since the First Order had just reached a partnership agreement with the government. Poe was familiar with their one-sided brand of partnerships.</p><p>There was a sense of invincibility to these missions, though. Future Hux had his best interests at heart, after all. He went around the building and found the reinforced steel door unlocked. Easy as that.</p><p>“Are you stalking me?” Hux said, sounding paranoid and on edge. The bruises hadn’t made a return but he had big purple circles under his eyes and looked wrung out. “How are you finding me?”</p><p>“A feeling. The Force,” Poe said, falling into step next to him. The place was cavernous, stained transparisteel windows surrounded by imposing, soaring pillars that let the warm light from the outside come through. Poe was surprised the First Order hadn’t begun to tear it down.</p><p>Hux recoiled. “The Force?”</p><p>“No, no, that was me being an asshole,” Poe rushed to say. “We have a source inside the Order.” Or outside, since he supposed Future Hux was a defector.</p><p>“Who will happily reveal my whereabouts to the enemy without a second thought? Good to know I can’t trust my inferiors,” Hux said bitterly but not sounding particularly surprised.</p><p>“You mean your subordinates.”</p><p>“No, I said what I meant.”</p><p>Poe chuckled, feeling almost startled by his reaction. It was all part of the plan anyway. Poe was pretty sure <em>laugh at their jokes</em> was basic romancing.</p><p>Hux looked at him warily but didn’t put distance between their bodies.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>“You’re not doing enough,” he told Future Hux the next time he saw him. Hux had been waiting for him in the wide, empty field where Poe had landed his ship.</p><p>“I believe that’s you. It’s not my performance that should be under review here.”</p><p>“Help me get to him. You’re not telling me enough.”</p><p>“I told you what to do already.”</p><p>“No, I’m not going to — use him.” Poe already felt a little bad. Hux was apparently a person who had the capacity for actual feelings. For love, even.</p><p>Hux sighed. “I need you to put your morals aside. He’ll be fine and billions of lives are at stake.”</p><p>“Including your own?” Poe asked, voicing his suspicions.</p><p>Hux stared for a beat too long and unconvincingly said, “yes.”</p><p>“I would’ve expected you to lead with that. Do you think that would’ve made me less likely to help you?” Poe was getting a different picture in his head, though.</p><p>“No, I just didn’t want you to feel responsible for me,” Hux said, looking toward the misty green horizon up ahead.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>There is the unspoken issue they talk around. The implications of Future Hux fixing his timeline. Fixing it <em>like this</em>.</p><p>He sometimes looks at Poe fondly, says his name in an overly familiar manner; like he’s said it a million times before and in a million different contexts. But that’s it. He’s business-like and exasperated, focused on priorities beyond Poe’s gaze.</p><p>Poe had asked him once <em>in the future, am I—?</em></p><p><em>He’s— he’s alive,</em> Hux had said, some powerful undertow coloring his words. It told Poe too much and not enough.</p><p>He decided not to press.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Poe didn’t actually know what Hux did in half the places they met. All he knew was that he couldn’t focus on the resentment that sprung up in him whenever he remembered he wasn’t here to stop him.</p><p>Sometimes it was obvious that Hux was there to schmooze or to terrorize some poor minions who got a piece of propaganda wrong. Other times Poe put the pieces together based on information they had about where the Order had established bases and research facilities. The rest of the time he met Hux, they spent no more than twenty minutes together and Hux would then disappear. Often without saying goodbye.</p><p>It’s not how he expected his efforts to win the war to look. It made everyone uneasy back at the base and it made Leia consider grounding him just so he could be available for their dates.</p><p>Poe didn’t even protest when Snap — and subsequently, <em>everyone else</em> — referred to them as that. It was a long and mostly unsuccessful wooing process.</p><p>“You spend a lot of time off-ship,” Poe told him as they walked through a grassy square surrounded by markets in a planet Poe had never visited before.</p><p>The place seemed peaceful in a way that didn’t resemble the ‘peaceful’ planets he had visited that were under First Order occupation. The people weren’t afraid and cowed, they were just going about their lives.</p><p>“Meaning what?”</p><p>“Meaning who’s taking care of things while you’re gone? And don’t say Kylo Ren because I won’t fall for that.”</p><p>“Ren spends a lot of time off-ship as well.”</p><p>“Doing what?” Poe asked.</p><p>“His usual mystical quests, I assume.” After a moment, Hux added, “he promoted someone else in my place to spite me.”</p><p>“Who?” Poe asked, mentally going through their most recent intel. Hux ignored him, so he tried something else, “so you’re not missed?”</p><p>“Why would I be? I am what I can do for the Order. Nothing more.”</p><p>“I don’t think that’s true.”</p><p>“It’s what we all are. A means to end. We're not the sum of our parts, we are the sum of what we can offer someone else," Hux said easily, like a long-held belief, like something that went beyond the truth.</p><p>Poe looked away, uncomfortable with his conviction, with his words; unsure he could refute them.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Nondescript cantina, take three — or four? They honestly all blended together in Poe's mind. The only thing that made them stand out from one another was the information he learned from Hux, either one of them. This place was dark and with dramatic red lights overhead, the air smokey, and the vibe definitely screamed <em>clandestine activities are happening here.</em></p><p>“How do I know this isn’t some evil plan for you to rule the galaxy?” Poe asked him, the other Hux.</p><p>Hux frowned. “How does falling in love with you lead me to rule the galaxy?” He said it as if maybe the concepts were more than just incompatible, like they couldn’t even exist in the same galaxy. Poe would’ve expected him to sound more conflicted about that.</p><p>“Maybe you’re trying to lure me to the dark side.”</p><p>His words were almost playful when he said, “why would I do that? If I fell in love with you as a filthy Rebel then presumably that’s how I like you.”</p><p>“Is that how you like me?” he said grinning. Poe was not flirting with intent. He was trying to deflect because he didn't like the way Hux talked about his feelings for — him, he supposed.</p><p>Hux rolled his eyes. “Save it for the other me.”</p><p>His reaction was both similar and different to the way Poe’s regular Hux had reacted last week —</p><p>(“We wouldn’t have to meet in these rundown places. Y’know, if I knew where you lived,” Poe had joked.</p><p>“I’ll tell you and then I’ll make sure to wait for you in binders, shall I?”</p><p>Poe tried not to flirt with him overtly, but, “I’m game if that’s what you’re into.”)</p><p>Hux had scowled and glared at Poe, but his act had been transparent; probably only fooling himself.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>“What’s here?” he asked Hux — his Hux, the one from the present — when he reached Ores. It was all bright, lush vegetation. Beautiful but not what he would have considered Hux’s style at all.</p><p>“A test,” Hux said. His hair almost glowed against the brilliant, golden sun. He looked pale and washed out in the middle of all the colorful red and yellow foliage, the deep orange grass. Like a greyscale transplant, undeniably not fitting in with his surroundings.</p><p>Poe looked around him, but there was literary nothing but grass and trees. He thought he could spot a cluster of hills in the distance but the blinding light of the sun didn’t help him see things clearly.</p><p>“What kind of test?”</p><p>“I now know for certain you were lying about having a spy inside the Order who conveniently shared my whereabouts and little else with you.”</p><p>“What makes you say that?” Poe asked.</p><p>“I changed trajectories halfway. No one knew I was coming here and yet, here you are. Will you try to tell me you had not only access but the time to decode my encrypted flight trajectory?”</p><p>Poe squinted at the sun. “I don’t think you would find that believable.”</p><p>“At least you won’t insult my intelligence. Will you tell me how you’re finding me?”</p><p>Poe turned to look at him, feeling the openness of Hux’s question awake something in him. “Maybe I’m just drawn to you and that’s how I find you. Across moons and planets, something calls me to you.”</p><p>Hux swallowed and looked away. “If you won’t tell me, you can at least refrain from mocking me.”</p><p>“I won’t tell you, but I’m not mocking you.” Poe stared at the emptiness around them, where things had been allowed to grow and come to exist with no outside intervention. Just nature following its course. “I don’t know that I like you, but I do feel something in me respond to you.”</p><p>Maybe he only felt that because he had been given a different context for his feelings, maybe he was doing the same thing to Hux by telling him this now; this was all artificial and dishonest.</p><p>“I’m relieved you prefaced that by saying you don’t like me. Otherwise, it would have been—”</p><p>“What?”</p><p>Hux blinked at him, looking lost for a moment. “Sentimental.”</p><p>“Force forbid we get sentimental,” he joked but it didn’t diffuse the tension.</p><p>Hux must have felt it too, because he turned around and started walking farther into the forest, not looking back but expecting Poe to follow.</p><p>He stopped at what originally seemed like a random point until Poe saw they had reached a lake. There was a waterfall ahead and a cave almost hidden behind the powerful curtain of clear, clean water.</p><p>It would be easy to get caught up, swept in, and lost in it. Easy to get so deep you lost sight of the surface.</p><p>“When you said you had a source inside the Order, was that to get me to consider the possibility of becoming that source?” Hux asked.</p><p>That had been one of his questions for Future Hux but without his answer, Poe was flying blind. Hux was supposed to fall I'm love and then what? Defect? Maybe Future Hux hadn’t told him because it would have seemed too far-fetched. Maybe falling in love was the easy part.</p><p>“Is that something you’re willing to consider?”</p><p>When Hux turned to look at him, the sun shifted around them.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>It was hard to hold a conversation over the loud music coming from the fairly subpar live band in the middle of the cantina. It was hard to hold a conversation with Future Hux at all. This was just another roadblock.</p><p>“Has he ever—?” Poe rushed to ask him before he vanished like he always did.</p><p>“No,” Hux said, cutting him off.</p><p>“You don’t know what I was going to ask.”</p><p>“Go ahead. I still believe the answer will be no.”</p><p>“Has he ever been in love?” Poe asked.</p><p>“No, he believes himself to be above that. With good reason. As you can see, love leads to complete and utter insanity.”</p><p>Five minutes later, Hux showed up. His eyes scanned the place until they landed on Poe and then rearranged his features into something blank and disinterested. Yeah, complete insanity.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>They met on a jungle moon a month later, kinda like the one Poe called home.</p><p>“There’s nothing for me to do here,” Hux said. These days he was slightly more comfortable venting around Poe, though Poe suspected it was because he really liked to vent or because he really liked to hear himself talk, possibly both. “There’s a town nearby that seems to be adverse to any technological development from the past four decades. It’s all markets and so-called historical places that are just monuments to far more interesting locations in the galaxy. Who cares to see a museum of neon signs someone stole from Canto Bight?”</p><p>“Why did you come, then?”</p><p>“I took leave.”</p><p>“Oh, why didn’t you research the place before coming here?”</p><p>“It was the closest to—” Hux clenched his jaw. “It doesn’t matter.”</p><p>Poe had to work really hard to ignore the urge to shake Hux and make information spill out of him. It would be an unsuccessful approach, he reminded himself. “How long will you be here for?”</p><p>“Two days, though I already regret it. There is absolutely nothing to do here,” he repeated, something sulky coming through his words.</p><p>“I could keep you company.”</p><p>“This looks bad enough as it is. You being here, us talking.”</p><p>“Right. It looks like you came here to meet up with a filthy Rebel for an illicit tryst.”</p><p>“No, I meant that it looks like I’m committing treason. Not that I would ever do what you suggest, either,” he said firmly. The words out of his mouth being, as far as he knew, the truth.</p><p>It made Poe feel guilty to know something about Hux that he didn’t know about himself yet.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>They had lunch in a tiny restaurant in the 'nowhere town' that Hux mentioned. Most of the tables inside were empty but the place wasn't run down. Floating white orbs served to illuminate it, and there was a distinct lack of blaster marks decorating the walls, which was not something he could say of the cantinas he usually met Hux in.</p><p>They sat across from each other and he mostly stared at the way Hux moved the food around his plate but didn’t eat, looked at it with displeasure instead. It made Poe question his own future self’s taste.</p><p>“Do you know Maxir Leven?” Hux asked, putting his plate aside. “Don’t bother lying. If I ask a question it is likely I already know the answer.”</p><p>“Yeah, the diplomat. I know him.”</p><p>“I know he’s secretly aiding your cause. He attempted to send a batch of confidential data files regarding our new mining base in Osh <em>while</em> he was aboard the <em>Steadfast</em> two weeks ago.”</p><p>Poe tensed but said nothing. Not sure where Hux was going with this or where he would go next but knowing he wasn’t done talking.</p><p>“If these are the best spies your side can afford, then you are doomed. If he can’t take the time to complete his mission properly out of impatience then he’s already failed.”</p><p>“He thought the information couldn’t wait.” There was a more important piece of information hiding behind his words. ”You didn’t stop the data transfer.”</p><p>“I’ve been against that project from the beginning. The materials required to make the base semi-functional all need to be imported and the materials we get from the planet have exclusively theoretical uses. It’s a waste of credits.”</p><p>It was interesting the selective way he was loyal to the Order. The jumps in logic he used to justify himself.</p><p>“In any case, that wasn’t my point.”</p><p>“What was your point?” Poe asked.</p><p>“Something worth doing isn’t something worth rushing.”</p><p><em>Yeah, well, your future self doesn’t agree,</em> Poe thought.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>There was no victory to be found in dishonesty.</p><p>Poe wanted to find something real in the breath between their mouths. He wanted them to talk to each other with their breaths intermingling. He wanted to trace the shape of his words against Hux’s lips.</p><p>He wasn’t sure where the urge came from and he wondered if the other him had wanted that, if he still did. The thought always stopped him.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>When Poe saw what he assumed was a First Order station looming in distance, he got a brief feeling of dread. The scan showed no active droids and only one life-form inside, though.</p><p>He landed on the wide, sterile hangar and ignored the feeling of unease he got at the quiet welcome. He was more comfortable when he was greeted with blaster fire. That, at least, was familiar; unlike the complete silence and the dim lights that reflected off of every single smooth, silver surface of the place.</p><p>“Hux?” he said and flinched at the responding echo; his words thrown back at him, like many versions of Poe were looking for Hux. He supposed it would be an interesting role reversal.</p><p>Poe continued through the upper levels until he found Hux in the command room looking out from the viewport. “Didn’t you hear me call for you?”</p><p>Hux didn’t turn as he said, “what did you expect me to do? Shout and wave my hands in an undignified manner?”</p><p>“You know, an abandoned First Order station is not the place to be cagey and secretive.”</p><p>“Do you worry that I might set up a trap for you?” Hux turned around but kept his distance, his walls firmly up.</p><p>Poe wasn’t worried about Hux setting him up. He might not have trusted this Hux but he trusted his future version. It was odd because whatever weird feelings he had for this Hux were lacking for the one he actually trusted. “No, but you could.”</p><p>“I suppose,” he said, inclining his head.</p><p>“There was a question in there.”</p><p>“No, there wasn’t.”</p><p>“Why haven’t you? Why don’t you?”</p><p>Hux swallowed and fixed his gaze on him. “You’re not always there.”</p><p>Something shifted in the cold, recycled, stale air and it called Poe closer. “Where?”</p><p>“Where I expect you to be. I had a small group of troopers with me at all times after the first meeting in that cheap cantina. I didn’t see you again until I dismissed them.”</p><p>"Was it a worthy trade-off?" Poe had reached the terminal at the center of the room now and his fingers itched to focus on that, on the information he could find there. He kept his eyes on Hux instead.</p><p>“For you, possibly,” Hux said, looking away.</p><p>“You know I only come here for the pleasure of your company, right? What else do you think I’m getting out of it?”</p><p>Hux turned his gaze on him, with intent this time. Trying to decipher something in Poe. Poe wished him luck because he had no idea how to decipher the past few months himself. “Is that all this is? You’re just a reckless thrill-seeker who spends all his free time flying around the galaxy to meet an enemy general?”</p><p>“What do you think this is?”</p><p>Hux sighed. “I find the answer matters less and less each time.” He moved past Poe, toward the door and stopped Poe with a motion of his hand when Poe made to follow him. “I can tell your attention is divided. Download the data from the terminal and come find me afterward if you’re still interested.”</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>After Poe copied the data, he wandered the labyrinthine interior of the facility in search of Hux.</p><p>“I have a lot of questions,” he said when he found him sitting in with his legs hanging from a railing three levels from where Poe had just been. His greatcoat and his gloves were lying neatly arranged by his hip.</p><p>“This station is scheduled to be demolished tomorrow. That’s why it’s empty.”</p><p>Poe approached him, first leaning his elbows on the railing and then climbing up on it. He was facing inside, toward the long dark corridors while Hux faced the open hangar, the wide space that waited for them outside. Poe tried not to find a deeper meaning in it.</p><p>“That was actually one of my least pressing questions,” Poe said, turning on his side to stare at his profile.</p><p>“Do you doubt the information’s veracity?”</p><p>"No, but most of it is encrypted."</p><p>“I guess you better start working on decoding it, then.”</p><p>“Okay, sure. Thanks for— do you want me to thank you?”</p><p>Hux laughed humorlessly. “No, just put it to good use.” After a long, silent moment, he added, “I guess it’s not more treasonous to walk you through it than it was to freely offer the information in the first place.”</p><p>Poe leaned forward, placing his hand between them. His fingers brushed the texture of Hux’s gloves and he briefly imagined it was his hand he was touching. “It’s a lot of data but, would you?”</p><p>“I could. There are sleeping quarters here. We could spend the night.”</p><p>Poe moved away slightly. No matter what ideas Hux’s future self had, Poe wasn’t going to do that. “Sure, like a sleepover.”</p><p>Hux stared at him. “I’m not doing this for you,” he said firmly. “I’m doing this because I need him to lose and I didn’t consider you a viable path to accomplishing that before. You’re different from what I expected. I’m hoping that I misjudged your people’s competence the same way I misjudged you.”</p><p>Poe shouldn’t be drawn in by his conviction. He should remember how that conviction had been put to use before instead.</p><p>“Hey,” he said, brushing their fingers together. It drew Hux closer which he wasn’t expecting but was definitely hoping for. “Hey.” Against his lips and into his mouth the word could’ve meant anything. The hurried way their lips met, the scrape of Poe's teeth over Hux's bottom lip when he pulled away, the barely suppressed sigh between their mouths was impossible to mistake for anything but what it was. "I'm doing this because I want to." Poe felt the words leaving his mouth, though he had mostly meant them for himself.</p><p>“Why else would you be doing it?”</p><p>Poe leaned back but the distance didn’t offer clarity. The same way their proximity hadn’t offered reservations. “You know there’s no coming back from this, right?”</p><p>“You mean because I will get caught and executed for committing treason? I’m too smart to get caught. Focus on doing your job and not on my well-being.”</p><p><em>So much for not wanting me to feel responsible for you</em>, Poe thought, remembering the other Hux’s words. “No, I meant this isn’t a stopgap while you make your way to the throne. We're not going to take him down just so you can take over."</p><p>“Dameron, I know what I’m doing.”</p><p>Well, that would make one of them.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>“Do you wanna hear a story?” Poe asked him as he was leaving in the morning. In the empty station, in the empty hangar, with only their voices and footsteps for company, a world of possibilities felt within reach. Like a private room they had built to store all the moments they had shared and maybe all the other ones to come.</p><p>Hux frowned. “Depends on what kind of story it is.”</p><p>“It’s a crazy story about the power of love.”</p><p>Hux clenched his jaw. “Is it a children’s story?” he said, tension coming through his words.</p><p>Poe stared at him and then at all the places where they weren’t touching, all the places where they could be. “Nope. Just regular people falling in love.”</p><p>Hux swallowed. “Who fell in love?”</p><p>The answer was probably not very surprising, but Poe still told him.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>They mastered the art of the secret rendezvous, meeting in out of the way cantinas in neutral planets and places too far out to be under anyone’s jurisdiction; never for long enough.</p><p>It had been two months of playing spies and secret agents when he next saw the Hux from the future.</p><p>“You’re not who I was expecting,” Poe said as Future Hux sat down next to him. It was the same cantina from the first time; the same tacky red seats, the same sticky surfaces, the same mysterious stains on the walls.</p><p>“Have you started to think of him as ‘your Hux’ yet?” he said with amusement.</p><p>Poe tried to cover his wince by saying, “who’s asking?”</p><p>“You already know who is asking.”</p><p>“Right. The billions of lives at stake, huh?”</p><p>“It’s how it felt to me,” he said, before turning his familiar and equally unnerving gaze on Poe. “You did a good job. Thank you.”</p><p>Poe swallowed. He was meant to be meeting Hux in a few minutes. "I should thank you for giving the key to winning the war, I guess."</p><p>Hux glanced toward the entrance. “You gave me something far greater.”</p><p>Poe nodded. “I guess I’m not getting any answers from you, then.”</p><p>“You already have all the answers you need.” Hux placed both hands on the table and stood up. “When the time comes, don’t hesitate to push me where I’m afraid to go. Drag me there, if you must.”</p><p>Poe frowned. Hux wasn’t exactly forthcoming but this was taking cryptic to another level. “Am I supposed to know what that means?”</p><p>“You will,” he said and tapped the table once before leaving, a familiar silver band glistening on his index finger.</p><p>Poe reached for his necklace but the ring was there. Waiting for the right person.</p><p> </p><p> </p>
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